S'hamba Sonke

The S’hamba Sonke programme, launched in April 2011, is dedicated to road maintenance on secondary roads and rural roads, with particular emphasis on repairing potholes, using labour-intensive methods of construction and maintenance. Funds allocated is R6.4 billion for 2011/12, R7.5 billion for 2012/13 and R8.2 billion by 2014. It will total some R22 billion by 2014.

The S’hamba Sonke Programme (SSP, through the Provinc)ial Roads Maintenance Grant (PRMG), consists of three budget components. The largest component enables provinces to expand their maintenance activities. The other components allow provinces to repair roads damaged by floods and to rehabilitate roads for coal haulage activities in Mpumalanga and Gauteng.

For the 2011/12 financial year this money was allocated as follows:

KwaZulu-Natal: R1.2 billion

Eastern Cape: R1 billion

Mpumalanga: R1 billion

Limpopo: R934 million

Gauteng: R566 million

Free State: R447 million

Western Cape: R411 million

Northern Cape: 308 million

North West: R501 million.

Provincial anchor projects

KwaZulu-Natal

Nongoma – Dabhazi – Hlambanyathi - Hlabisa Corridor at R270 million

Eshowe – Ntumeni – Kranskop – Vryheid corridor at R2 billion.

These anchor projects will support the tale of four cities which is about connecting Ulundi, Richards Bay, Pietermaritzburg and Durban.

Mpumalanga

Maintenance of the R33 Road between Stoffberg to Belfast (42km) at a cost of R 24 million

An upgrade 40km road project from White River to Ntsikazi at a cost of some R16 million

Limpopo

Household routine maintenance engaging some 27 contractors for some R237 million and attending to some 8100 km

Fixing access roads at a cost of R60 million

Pothole patching project on some 220kms of roads at cost of R174 million.

Gauteng

Reseal on N14 from Krugersdorp to Klieveskraal at a cost of R55.8 million

Reseal of Ben Schoeman - Pretoria to the N1 for R10 million

Upgrade on P126 (M1) on some 8.54km for R11 million.

Northern Cape

Household Road Maintenance- Bathloaros to Maphinik 26km for R7 million

Road Maintenance: Victoria West Calvinia 387km for R18 million

Re-seal of Douglas-Kimberley 18km for R22 million.

Western Cape

Overberg regravelling at R43 million

Malmisbury to Hopefield reseal for R51 million

De Rust to N9 reseal for R54 million.

Eastern Cape

Household Contractor programme approximately R200 million over three years

Emerging contractor and consultant development for R500 million over three years.

Monitoring delivery

Provincial departments are required to report to the national Department of Transport every month. The national department is required to regularly report on a quarterly basis to National Treasury on the performance of this grant.

The national department will monitor the creation of jobs and expenditure to ensure emerging contractors are created in numbers. The transport forums will become another layer of civil society which will contribute to the monitoring and evaluation of S’hamba Sonke.

Infrastructure defines development

A key element of S’hamba Sonke is ongoing stakeholder consultation in all projects and programmes with the following forums:

(Rural) Road Transport Forums, where they do not exist, must be formed.

Strong stakeholder institutions for the economic empowerment of South Africa’s rural poor must be rolled out.

Commitment to the development of a national co-operative movement and a national emerging contractor council.

Furthermore, S’hamba Sonke consists of the following elements:

A Pothole Repair Programme, involving road-users and the private sector

The establishment of provincial road-asset registers which record the condition of roads, traffic counts and life-cycle maintenance requirements

Asset management systems for authorities to “know your network”. Engineers and superintendents will drive through stretches of road to determine the daily condition of our road network.

Reducing the percentage of roads in poor to very poor condition from the current 30% to 10%.